Anthony D'Amato

If You're Gonna Build a Wall

Anthony D'Amato's latest album, Cold Snap, was released in 2016.

I wrote 'If You're Gonna Build A Wall' last summer during the primaries. I was home from tour with a broken finger, and every time I turned on the TV or opened my computer, I was bombarded by the 24-hour news cycle. The dark and divisive rhetoric coming out of the Trump campaign was the initial spark, but the song touches on race and class and privilege in America right now, too. History doesn't look kindly on those who build themselves up by scapegoating, excluding, and demonizing the less powerful. If you're going to do that, you'd better be prepared for the consequences.

Lyrics

I've been walking the borderline
Let me tell you the reasons why
This side's heaven and that side's hell
This side poisoned that side's well
This side's rich and that side's poor '
Cos that side's fighting in this side's war
This side's healthy and that side's sick
From stacking iron, stone, and brick
But oh if you're gonna build a wall
You'd better be ready for the day it falls
This side's fertile and that side's bare
Chalk it up to luck and prayer
This side's bright and that side's dark
The police know which side to guard
And oh if you're gonna build a wall
You'd better be ready for the day it falls
Oh if you're gonna build a wall
You'd better be ready for the day it falls
This side's white and that side's black
This side's built on that side's back